Ted Maher | |
---|---|
Born | Theodore Maher June 9, 1958 Auburn, Maine, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Ex-Green Beret turned registered nurse |
Known for | Arson death of Edmond Safra |
Spouse | Heidi Wustrau |
Children | 3 |
Theodore "Ted" Maher (born June 9, 1958) is a former Green Beret turned registered nurse who was convicted of arson in a 1999 fire that killed Edmond Safra and another nurse, Vivian Torrente, at Safra's Monaco penthouse apartment. In October 2007, Maher was released after serving eight years in jail.
Maher was born in Maine and lived there and in California before his family settled in Upstate New York when he was 12 years old. After serving a stint in the U.S. Army in the mid-1970s, the former Green Beret received nursing degrees from Dutchess County Community College and Pace University. A brief marriage produced a son. [1] [2] While studying at the Dutchess County Community College Maher met his third wife, Heidi Wustrau. The couple lost contact for two years but started dating in 1991 while both attended Pace and worked at Columbia Medical Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital. They wed on December 12, 1993; this marriage produced two children. [1] The family lived in Stormville, New York. [3]
While working as a registered nurse at the neonatal unit at the Columbia Medical Center, Maher developed film from a camera he found left behind in a discharged patient's room. The camera's owners, Laura and Harry Slatkin, were grateful to retrieve the first photographs of their newborn twins. Harry Slatkin offered Ted the "job of a lifetime." [4] Shortly thereafter Maher interviewed with the personal assistant to Edmond Safra, a banker and billionaire based in Monaco who required private nursing care for Parkinson's and other ailments." [4]
According to Heidi Maher, the Safras liked that Ted was a former Green Beret and thought he could be both a bodyguard and a nurse. The Safras offered Ted Maher a contract at $600 per day, [5] more money than he had ever made, but he'd have to leave for Monaco right away. With a hospital strike looming and legal bills mounting from a visitation battle with his ex-wife regarding his oldest son, Maher ultimately accepted the job in early August. [4]
Safra, the 67-year-old founder and principal stock owner of the Republic National Bank of New York, had Parkinson's disease and required constant care. On December 3, 1999, Maher was scheduled at the last minute to work the overnight shift caring for Safra with Vivian Torrente (one of seven other nurses who looked after Safra) at Safra's Monaco penthouse at La Belle Epoque, a four-story bank and two-story flat at 17 Avenue D'Ostende. [4]
Immediately after his arrest Maher claimed two intruders had gained access to the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. He had informed the other nurse, Vivian Torrente, of the assailants and had given her his cell phone to call for help. He ordered her to take Edmond Safra into the secure dressing room while he went to the nearby nursing station, where he lit toilet paper in a trash basket to set off a smoke alarm, with the intention of alerting outside people that there was a problem. Maher made his way, bleeding and feeling faint, downstairs to the lobby of the building to get help. But while police and firemen got to the building, they didn't get to Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente until it was too late. [6]
Several days later, on December 7, Monaco's chief prosecutor, Daniel Serdet, announced that Maher had confessed to starting the fire "to draw attention to himself" as he was "jealous" of Mr. Safra's seven other nurses. In addition, his stab wounds had been self-inflicted. Maher had slashed himself twice with his own switchblade – once in the thigh and once in the stomach – to corroborate his story about the intruders. [7] On December 6 Safra was buried in Geneva. [8]
The case was a sensation for Monaco, a tiny Mediterranean principality better known for sumptuous casinos, Formula One racing and tax breaks that attract the world's rich and famous. The riviera's leading newspaper, Nice-Matin , dubbed it Monaco's "Trial of the Century". [9] [10] During his trial, Maher confessed to setting the blaze but said he never expected the fire, part of a bizarre plan to ingratiate himself with Safra, to rage out of control. [10] Maher testified he started the blaze in a small wastebasket, expecting it to set off a fire alarm that would bring help and allow him to reap the credit for saving his employer. [10]
There had been friction between Maher and Sonia Herkrath, Safra's head nurse, who considered Maher another "flavor of the month", who had gotten into Safra's good graces by returning a camera a friend forgot in New York six months earlier. [11] Maher reportedly believed Herkrath was intentionally providing him with wrong information, causing him to make mistakes that had not gone unnoticed, and she frequently altered his schedule between day and night shifts with little or no notice. [11]
Fearing the loss of his well-paid job, just six weeks after arriving in Monaco, Maher hatched the idea of setting the fire to ingratiate himself with his boss and earn a promotion. The prosecution described how Maher cut himself with a knife and then set a fire in a wastepaper basket. He called for rescue and told authorities that two masked intruders were in the apartment. But rather than extinguish the fire, Maher let it spread, the prosecution charged, leading to the two deaths. Prosecutors also said that his tale about intruders delayed the work of firefighters. [12]
American lawyer Michael Griffith volunteered to assist with Ted Maher's defense. Griffith based the defense on the notion that while Maher did set the fire, he never intended to harm anyone. "It was a stupid, most insane thing a human being could do," says Griffith. "He did not intend to kill Mr. Safra. He just wanted Mr. Safra to appreciate him more. He loved Mr. Safra. This was the best job of his life." [6] Maher maintained that the deaths of Safra and Torrente would have been averted if police had not blocked firefighters from launching a rescue attempt until long after Maher was rushed to a hospital. [11] Lawyers for Safra's widow, Lily, argued that Maher should be judged for his actions, not his intentions. [12]
In December 2002 Maher was convicted in the arson deaths of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The prosecution had requested 12 years in prison for Maher. The charges carried a maximum penalty of life in prison. "He directly caused the deaths of Mrs. Torrente and Mr. Safra", said head prosecutor Daniel Serdet. "He trapped the victims." On the final day of his trial Maher called Safra "the best employer I ever had," and said he did not mean to cause his death or the death of the other nurse. "What's happened is and always will be a terrible accident", reiterating earlier testimony, in the hours before the verdict. Maher's wife was in court, as was Safra's widow. [12]
Less than two months after being sentenced, on 21 January 2003 Ted Maher and his cellmate, an Italian awaiting trial in Monaco on charges stemming from a robbery, sawed through the bars on their cell, and then, using a rope made of black garbage bags, climbed out and escaped overnight. Maher made it 15 miles to Nice, where he holed up in a hotel and made telephone contact with people in the US, including his wife, his lawyer and a priest. The police apprehended him seven hours later. [9] [13]
In a series of interviews on the American network Court TV, Maher maintained his pretrial statements were coerced, threats were made against his family by authorities, and to this day maintains his innocence. American writer and journalist Dominick Dunne did comprehensive investigations on the case for courtroom television and was reportedly not entirely convinced Maher was responsible for Safra's death. [14]
Maher was imprisoned in Monaco for over two years before his trial began, resulting in a considerable amount of controversy and speculation surrounding the case. Days before his death, Safra finalized the sale of his Republic National Bank to HSBC Holdings plc in a multi-billion dollar deal. [15] His business made him some potent enemies as well. In 1998, his Republic Bank made a report to the F.B.I. that began an investigation into the possibility of a vast Russian money laundering operation that came to focus on the Bank of New York and ultimately helped break a $6bn crime ring. [16] [17]
The increasingly security conscious Safra employed a small army of guards, purportedly trained by Mossad intelligence units in Israel. [5] [17] None of his security team was, however, on duty on the night of the fire, [ why? ] which both enabled Maher to carry out the arson attack and hampered police and firefighters' efforts to gain access to his heavily fortified penthouse. Upon his arrest, Maher initially fabricated the story that two intruders had penetrated the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. This cover story, combined with Safra's involvements with the F.B.I., led to rumours that the incident had been a well-executed Russian mob hit, leaving Maher as the patsy. [18] [19]
Once the trial was underway, however, Maher claimed that he had acted alone, motivated by self-interest and paranoia and specifically out of fear of losing his highly rewarding job. This claim was later repudiated, [ clarification needed ] and Maher alleged he was forced to confess during his initial hospitalization. [20]
Maher, now also known as Jon Green, was arrested in San Antonio, Texas, on 13 June 2022, on 3rd degree felony charges for burglary, larceny, forgery, and fraud after he allegedly kidnapped three search and rescue dogs in Carlsbad, New Mexico, that were owned by his ex-wife. [21]
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank that was established in 1896 and collapsed in 1982. The Vatican-based Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder. The Vatican Bank was accused of funnelling covert United States funds to the Polish trade union Solidarity and to the Nicaraguan Contras through Banco Ambrosiano.
Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco, is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. Founded in 1918, the team play their home matches at the Stade Louis II. Its training center is situated in neighboring France, in la Turbie.
Cameron Todd Willingham was an American man who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three young children by arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Since Willingham's 2004 execution, significant controversy has arisen over the legitimacy of the guilty verdict and the interpretation of the evidence that was used to convict him of arson and murder.
Joseph Safra was a Swiss-based Lebanese Brazilian banker and billionaire businessman of Syrian descent. He was Brazil's richest man and the richest banker in the world. He ran the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group.
Edmond J. Safra was a Lebanese-Brazilian billionaire banker and philanthropist of Syrian descent. He continued his family tradition of banking in Brazil and Switzerland, and was married to Lily Watkins from 1976 until his death. He died in a fire that attracted wide media interest, and was judicially determined to be due to arson.
Lily Safra was a Brazilian-Monegasque billionaire and socialite who amassed considerable wealth through her four marriages. She had a significant art collection and owned the historic Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera. Her net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion. She became strongly engaged with philanthropy when she married the banker Edmond Safra, and this continued through their foundation after his death in 1999.
The Old Fire was a large complex wildfire that started on October 25, 2003, near Old Waterman Canyon Road and California State Route 18 in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, Southern California, United States. The Old Fire caused at least $1.2 billion in damages.
Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, as well as arson and terrorism, such as bombings.
Republic New York Corporation was the holding company for Republic National Bank of New York, Safra Republic Holdings, and Safra Republic Bank.
Safra Ada Catz is an Israeli-American billionaire banker and technology executive. She is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. She has been an executive at Oracle since April 1999, and a board member since 2001. In April 2011, she was named co-president and chief financial officer (CFO), reporting to founder Larry Ellison. In September 2014, Oracle announced that Ellison would step down as CEO and that Mark Hurd and Catz had been named as joint CEOs. In September 2019, Catz became the sole CEO after Hurd resigned due to health issues.
David Nahmad is a Lebanese billionaire and former fine art dealer. He is a descendant of a Syrian Jewish art family residing in Monaco.
Dmitry Yevgenyevich Rybolovlev is a Russian oligarch, billionaire businessman, and investor.
The Villa La Leopolda is a large detached villa in Villefranche-sur-Mer, in the Alpes-Maritimes department on the French Riviera. The villa is situated in 7.3 hectares of grounds. The villa has had several notable owners including Gianni and Marella Agnelli, Izaak and Dorothy J. Killam, and, since 1987, by Edmond (1932–1999) and Lily Safra (1934–2022), who inherited the villa after her husband's death.
Empress Bianca, the first novel by Lady Colin Campbell, was initially published in June 2005. One month later, Arcadia Books, the British publisher, withdrew the book and pulped all unsold copies in reaction to a legal threat initiated on behalf of Lily Safra under her interpretation that the book was a defamatory roman à clef. After some changes the book was republished in the United States in 2008 by Dynasty Press.
The Edmond J. Safra Synagogue, organized by Congregation Beit Yaakov, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located on East 63rd Street off Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, United States. The congregation practices in the Nusach Sefard rite.
Moise Jacob Safra was a Lebanese-Brazilian businessman and philanthropist of Syrian descent. He co-founded Banco Safra with his brothers Edmond Safra and Joseph Safra.
Ezra Nahmad is a Monegasque billionaire art dealer and collector of Syrian descent. He lives in Monte Carlo, Monaco. As of April 2023, his net worth is estimated at US$1.8 billion.
Gérard Cohen is a Swiss private banker and patron of the arts. Between 1991 and 2016 he was managing director of HSBC Private Bank in Monaco.
The Briarcliffe is a 13-story, 35-unit residence at 171 West 57th Street, at the northeastern corner with Seventh Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located just north of Carnegie Hall, the property was built as a hotel in 1922, designed by architects Warren and Wetmore, and converted to its current purpose as condominiums in 1999. The Briarcliffe is part of Billionaires' Row and shares a city block with the Alwyn Court to the north and 165 West 57th Street, One57, the Nippon Club Tower, the Calvary Baptist Church, and 111 West 57th Street to the east.